Binghamton

Last weekend we went on our second annual MLK weekend trip to Binghamton to see Doug's grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins. We had a wonderful time despite having horrible coughs (the kids) and colds (me and Doug). Gianna, as usual, took a while to warm up to her relatives, but Mark was ready to be charming from the start. We saw Doug's grandpa on Saturday and on Sunday Doug cooked a big dinner for lots of relatives, including Nonna and Pop-pop and Great Grandma DeAngelo. Mark really enjoyed sharing his snacks with her. He also enjoyed playing spoons with cousin Santino. Gianna enjoyed relaxing with Nonna and Great Grandma and of course she LOVED some very cold sledding with Pop-pop. Check out those cheeks!

Artistry

Gianna spends at least an hour every day working on her artistic creations. I'm finally letting Mark join in since he is no longer solely interested in eating art supplies. He started with finger painting (too messy for pictures, plus he hated it!) and then moved to coloring. He liked it, but he liked playing peek-a-boo behind the crayons with his sister more. I could have put a hundred more pictures here. They're just too cute!

SNOW!

So the day after Christmas, you may have heard, there was a really big snow storm. It didn’t disappoint! We got about 20 inches of snow. It was nuts. Not really the best for playing in, but Gianna loved it anyway; a major change from last year! I can’t imagine how much she’ll love snow that she can walk in, lay in, and sled on.

She liked pretending that the huge mountain in our front “yard” was a pirate ship and kept yelling “ahoy mateys” to us as we shoveled. Hilarious! And Doug made her both backyard and front yard slides. Mark even went out in it, but given that he cannot walk in real shoes (because we can‘t fit his foot in any shoes), he mostly just stood there until Gianna hit him in the face with a snowball, then he cried.

This picture is just to give you an idea of how much freaking snow we got.

Wading in it.

Very concerned, and quite rightly.

He did like looking at it and being out in it.

Until this started coming his way.

The aftermath (no footage of the direct-to-face hit.)

Here is Gianna sliding down her pirate ship in picture form.

We have about a million videos of her playing in the snow, but I think you’ll get the gist with just one! Here she is transporting and throwing (pretty unsuccessfully) a "crystal snowball." Most of the other videos end with her getting stuck in the snow. Pretty funny. I hope we get at least one more small amount of snow because I think she'll just LOVE being able to really move and play in it. Oh, and because I finally got her some real snow pants.

Christmas 2010!

Our Christmas stared early with a trip to Doug’s brother’s new home in PA. We haven’t seen them since August, so it was a fun reunion. I think all the kids had a great time and it was good to start opening some presents. We’re so happy that their family is finally all settled together and in a lovely home that is only a couple of hours away!

Mark (13 months) and Jack (16 months) playing

They got Gianna a Dorothy costume...adorable! Thanks Uncle Nick and Aunt Elizabeth!

Gianna’s school Christmas party was on the 23rd and it ended with a brief concert for the parents when we came to pick them up. It was very cute. Gianna was a very good singer and loved showing off for us. They made so many cute little Christmas ornaments and crafts at school. She loved every minute of it!

Then the real Christmas festivities began. Grandma and Grandpa and Nonna and Pop-pop arrived on Christmas Eve. Gianna was so excited about them coming. And while Mark didn’t know what was going on, he greeted all of his grandparents with enthusiasm! We went to an absolutely mobbed Christmas Eve mass in the afternoon. It was a very cute little program for children that I think Gianna would have loved had we not been sitting in the last row, practically on top of each other.

Then we went home for a delicious seafood dinner prepared mostly by Doug. I would call it the traditional “seven fishes” dinner except there were more then seven dishes and less than seven fishes. The highlight for everyone was the lobster rolls. Doug was very successful at re-creating his favorites from Kennebunkport, Maine. They were amazing.

After dinner Gianna prepared for Santa, putting out cookies for him. And putting out carrots and school-made reindeer food for Rudolph and his pals. Once she and Mark were in bed, we adults had dessert and got to work. We had a kitchen to fetch from my cousin’s house and a dollhouse to assemble and furnish!

Gianna's Christmas Eve outfit, she fell in love with it in October. It's a ridiculous dress.

Mark in his formal wear.

On Christmas morning Mark was the first one up (because apparently his latest trend is to be STARVING at 6am) and he was positively giddy that Santa had come. Mostly because Santa brought him his favorite thing of all time, a punch balloon. Mark literally danced around all morning. So cute!

Gianna, as you will see in the video, was in a state of awe/confusion/trying-to-take-it-all-in on Christmas morning. (She had so many questions about Santa, I swear she’ll be a non-believer by age 5!) Despite seeming subdued, she was, in fact, very excited about her dollhouse and played with it all day

So, the day was filled with lots of playing and even some craft/cookie time with Grandma and Nonna. We were delighted to host our first Christmas and have such a fun and relaxing time with the kids and all their grandparents.

Conversations with Gianna and some cute pictures

(In bed ready to go to sleep)

Me: Do you want a sip of water?

G:(whispering in a fake scared way) It's poison!

Me: No, it's just water.

G: I’m pretending it's poison!

Me: Okay.

G: (takes a sip, then crashes to the bed “asleep” from the poison)

(On being a flower girl with her cousin Bella in her Aunt Jenny’s wedding this spring)

Doug: Will you dance with me at Aunt Jenny’s wedding?

G: Yes. (Pause.) But who will Mommy dance with?

Me: Maybe I could dance with Daddy and you can dance with Bella.

G: (very adamant) Bella’s not a partner. I need a man!

The rest of this blog entry is just a chance to post some pictures that may not make it into the Christmas and snow posts to come.

Mark has started to really like "drawing." Now, if we can just keep him from eating the crayons.

My sister is hilarious.

Icing face from eating her Christmas tree creation from school...because she ate it like this:

Just hanging out with my girl.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks to preschool, Gianna was super prepared for Thanksgiving. She kept asking when our feast was. Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa arrived Wednesday morning, so the festivities could begin a little early.

Gianna was excited about the Macy's parade. Okay, maybe I was more excited. But hey, Doug is not exactly a parade enthusiast, so I was looking forward to sharing it with someone who would appreciate it. And she did! She was a little lukewarm about it first, but eventually she really got into it, lots of dancing and singing along.

We had a delicious meal with way too much food. But Doug's turkey was so awesome that we didn't mind eating leftovers and definitely didn't let it all go to waste. Not surprisingly, Gianna ate virtually none of the Thanksgiving fare and Mark loved every dish! We tried to make Thanksgiving in Germany last year, but it was fun to do it up right this year!

The day after Thanksgiving, Doug and I took Gianna to her very first movie in a movie theater, Tangled. She LOVED the popcorn and tolerated the movie, so when the popcorn ran out she said, "Mommy, I'm not really enjoying this. I want to go home." Fortunately, a quick trip with Doug to get some M&Ms revived her interest and she made it to the end. She did like it, but I think she'll appreciate it more once we can watch it at home and really talk it out. The girl likes to talk it out. She definitely enjoyed her special time with Mommy and Daddy. We're so glad Grandma and Grandpa could stay home with The Shark.

We also tried to take some potential Christmas card pictures. There was no crying, but there wasn't much cooperating either, so maybe we'll try again sometime!

On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa left and Nonna and Pop-pop stopped by on their way back home. It was nice to spend a few hours with them and they even helped us get our Christmas tree.

We got it completely decorated on Sunday and Gianna had a fun time looking at all of our ornaments and helping put them on the tree. Mark was intrigued by the tree and learned quickly that he is not to touch it or the ornaments, but the ones that are ball-shaped were just TOO tempting for him. So now that they're out of his reach he's doing great. And we're loving our great tree. We haven't had a real one since 2005!

Dear Christmas Season, we missed you last year! Bring it on!